Other editions of book O Pioneers!

On the harsh and wild frontier of the American West, Alexandra Bergson struggles to fulfill her father's dying wish of establishing his family on the Nebraska table lands. Through hard times and abundant, through love and loss, through joy and suffering, Alexandra challenges both her family and the land in her quiet, honest way. Cather's realistic depiction of life on the prairie is anchored by a smart, strong, independent heroine and heart-achingly beautiful prose which evokes both the melancholy and the awe-inspiring beauty of middle America at the turn of the century.

Set on the Nebraska prairie where Willa Cather (1873–1947) grew up, this powerful early novel tells the story of the young Alexandra Bergson, whose dying father leaves her in charge of the family and of the lands they have struggled to farm. In Alexandra's long flight to survive and succeed, O Pioneers! relates an important chapter in the history of the American frontier.Evoking the harsh grandeur of the prairie, this landmark of American fiction unfurls a saga of love, greed, murder, failed dreams, and hard-won triumph. In the fateful interaction of her characters, Willa Cather compares with keen insight the experiences of Swedish, French, and Bohemian immigrants in the United States. And in her absorbing narrative, she displays the virtuoso storytelling skills that have made her one of the most admired masters of the American novel.

"A direct, human tale of love and struggle and attainment—American in the best sense of the word."—The New York TimesOn the windy Nebraska prairie, Alexandra Bergson tends to the failing farm that she inherited from her father. She struggles to raise her brothers on her own. And she is torn by the emergence of an unexpected passion…A magnificent story, O Pioneers!—Willa Cather’s second novel—has become one of the great classics of American literature, telling a timeless tale of a strong pioneer woman facing extraordinary challenges and conflicts, shining a light on the immigrant experience, and, with its simple, beautiful prose, revealing the emerging voice of one of our greatest authors. With an Introduction by Marcelle Clementsand an Afterword by Lan Samantha Chang

Willa Cather’s powerful story about a family of farmers—an instant American classic The first novel in Willa Cather’s Prairie Trilogy tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of immigrants eking out a hardscrabble life as farmers in Nebraska at the turn of the nineteenth century. Alexandra, the eldest child of Bergson patriarch John, inherits the family farm when her father dies. Left to raise her father’s three sons and somehow turn a struggling farm around, Alexandra is tasked with pulling her family up by its bootstraps. Unfortunately, her brothers aren’t made of the same strong pioneer stock as she is. When drought, depression, and other agricultural disasters hit, it’s up to Alexandra to pull the family through. Along the way, the neighbor boy, Carl Linstrum, catches her eye. But when families begin lighting out for greener pastures in the West, the Bergsons’ fortunes take a turn. Can the family survive the brutal Midwest hardships, or worse—the Bergson brothers’ frivolous nature? Will Alexandra, emotional lodestone and embodiment of the American can-do spirit, ever find happiness—or love? Cather’s novel shows readers the story of the American frontier. O Pioneers! is the 1st book in the Prairie Trilogy, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

O Pioneers! tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish immigrants in the farm country near the fictional town of Hanover, Nebraska, at the turn of the 20th century. Alexandra, inherits the family farm when her father dies, and she devotes her life to making the farm a viable enterprise at a time when other immigrant families are giving up and leaving the prairie.

One of America’s greatest women writers, Willa Cather established her talent and her reputation with this extraordinary novel—the first of her books set on the Nebraska frontier. A tale of the prairie land encountered by America’s Swedish, Czech, Bohemian, and French immigrants, as well as a story of how the land challenged them, changed them, and, in some cases, defeated them, Cather’s novel is a uniquely American epic. Alexandra Bergson, a young Swedish immigrant girl who inherits her father’s farm and must transform it from raw prairie into a prosperous enterprise, is the first of Cather’s great heroines—all of them women of strong will and an even stronger desire to overcome adversity and succeed. But the wild land itself is an equally important character in Cather’s books, and her descriptions of it are so evocative, lush, and moving that they provoked writer Rebecca West to say of her: “The most sensuous of writers, Willa Cather builds her imagined world almost as solidly as our five senses build the universe around us.”Willa Cather, perhaps more than any other American writer, was able to re-create the real drama of the pioneers, capturing for later generations a time, a place, and a spirit that has become part of our national heritage.

Cather invents a fictional town in early twentieth century Nebraska to tell the coming-of-age story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish immigrants. Alexandra Bergson, the eldest of the Bergson children doggedly persists during the worst of times to become a wealthy, independent landowner. The novel is also concerned with two romantic relationships, one between Alexandra and family friend Carl Linstrum and the other between Alexandra's brother Emil and the married Marie Shabata.

"O Pioneers!" is considered to be one of Willa Cather's greatest works. It is the story of Alexandra Bergson, a young girl who arrives in the prairie frontier of Hanover, Nebraska and grows up to build a prosperous farm. "O Pioneers!" is a classic portrayal of the struggles of immigrants in the great plains of America. It is a story of success in the face of tragedy and the growth of a young woman along the way.